Wednesday, November 19, 2014

In the summer of 1944,
American forces liberated Rome
from Nazi occupation. Now

ARLINGTON MILL CENTER STAGE AND THE SEVENTH STREET
PLAYHOUSE

PRESENT

EUGENIO

A PLAY ABOUT FORGIVENESS

AS STAGED AT THE KENNEDYCENTER, THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, THE
DRAMATISTS GUILD OF AMERICA,
THE NEW YORK MIDTOWN FESTIVAL, AND THE
UNIVERSAL THEATRE AND THE GREENBELTARTSCENTER

By

ANTHONY ERNEST GALLO

Wednesday, November 19, 20147:30 PM

Seventy years ago, American forces liberated Rome from Nazi
occupation.

This fact-based, two-act drama deals with that tragic
period in Italy during the
Holocaust when fifteen hundred Jews were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz.The
drama touches on the role of the Church and the Holocaust, and examines
forgiveness amidst three conversions. Rome's
aloof and scholarly Chief Rabbi Israel Zolli loses faith following the apparent
slaughter of his Polish family. He receives asylum in the Vatican, where
he comes to appreciate Jesus as God suffering for humanity. The Rabbi
rediscovers faith and converts to Roman Catholicism. This is seen as a betrayal
of his spiritual duty and a defection to the age-old enemy. Was his conversion
one of conviction or merely gratitude? What does he demand at his baptism that
eventually removes a major symbol of discrimination?